rpm
RPM(8) Red Hat Linux RPM(8)
NAME
rpm - RPM Package Manager
SYNOPSIS
QUERYING AND VERIFYING PACKAGES:
rpm {-q|--query} [select-options] [query-options]
rpm {-V|--verify} [select-options] [verify-options]
rpm --import PUBKEY ...
rpm {-K|--checksig} [--nosignature] [--nodigest]
PACKAGE_FILE ...
INSTALLING, UPGRADING, AND REMOVING PACKAGES:
rpm {-i|--install} [install-options] PACKAGE_FILE ...
rpm {-U|--upgrade} [install-options] PACKAGE_FILE ...
rpm {-F|--freshen} [install-options] PACKAGE_FILE ...
rpm {-e|--erase} [--allmatches] [--nodeps] [--noscripts]
[--notriggers] [--repackage] [--test] PACKAGE_NAME ...
MISCELLANEOUS:
rpm {--initdb|--rebuilddb}
rpm {--addsign|--resign} PACKAGE_FILE ...
rpm {--querytags|--showrc}
rpm {--setperms|--setugids} PACKAGE_NAME ...
select-options
[PACKAGE_NAME] [-a,--all] [-f,--file FILE]
[-g,--group GROUP] {-p,--package PACKAGE_FILE]
[--fileid MD5] [--hdrid SHA1] [--pkgid MD5] [--tid TID]
[--querybynumber HDRNUM] [--triggeredby PACKAGE_NAME]
[--whatprovides CAPABILITY] [--whatrequires CAPABILITY]
query-options
[--changelog] [-c,--configfiles] [-d,--docfiles] [--dump]
[--filesbypkg] [-i,--info] [--last] [-l,--list]
[--conflicts] [--obsoletes] [--provides] [--qf,--queryformat
QUERYFMT]
[-R,--requires] [--scripts] [-s,--state]
[--triggers,--triggerscripts]
verify-options
[--nodeps] [--nofiles] [--noscripts]
[--nodigest] [--nosignature]
[--nolinkto] [--nomd5] [--nosize] [--nouser]
[--nogroup] [--nomtime] [--nomode] [--nordev]
install-options
[--aid] [--allfiles] [--badreloc] [--excludepath OLDPATH]
[--excludedocs] [--force] [-h,--hash]
[--ignoresize] [--ignorearch] [--ignoreos]
[--includedocs] [--justdb] [--nodeps]
[--nodigest] [--nosignature] [--nosuggest]
[--noorder] [--noscripts] [--notriggers]
[--oldpackage] [--percent] [--prefix NEWPATH]
[--relocate OLDPATH=NEWPATH]
[--repackage] [--replacefiles] [--replacepkgs]
[--test]
DESCRIPTION
rpm is a powerful Package Manager, which can be used to build,
install, query, verify, update, and erase individual software pack-
ages. A package consists of an archive of files and meta-data used to
install and erase the archive files. The meta-data includes helper
scripts, file attributes, and descriptive information about the pack-
age. Packages come in two varieties: binary packages, used to encap-
sulate software to be installed, and source packages, containing the
source code and recipe necessary to produce binary packages.
One of the following basic modes must be selected: Query, Verify, Sig-
nature Check, Install/Upgrade/Freshen, Uninstall, Initialize Database,
Rebuild Database, Resign, Add Signature, Set Owners/Groups, Show
Querytags, and Show Configuration.
GENERAL OPTIONS
These options can be used in all the different modes.
-?, --help
Print a longer usage message then normal.
--version
Print a single line containing the version number of rpm being
used.
--quiet
Print as little as possible - normally only error messages will
be displayed.
-v Print verbose information - normally routine progress messages
will be displayed.
-vv Print lots of ugly debugging information.
--rcfile FILELIST
Each of the files in the colon separated FILELIST is read
sequentially by rpm for configuration information. Only the
first file in the list must exist, and tildes will be expanded
to the value of $HOME. The default FILELIST is
/usr/lib/rpm/rpmrc:/usr/lib/rpm/red-
hat/rpmrc:/etc/rpmrc:~/.rpmrc.
--pipe CMD
Pipes the output of rpm to the command CMD.
--dbpath DIRECTORY
Use the database in DIRECTORY rather than the default path
/var/lib/rpm
--root DIRECTORY
Use the file system tree rooted at DIRECTORY for all opera-
tions. Note that this means the database within DIRECTORY will
be used for dependency checks and any scriptlet(s) (e.g. %post
if installing, or %prep if building, a package) will be run
after a chroot(2) to DIRECTORY.
INSTALL AND UPGRADE OPTIONS
The general form of an rpm install command is
rpm {-i|--install} [install-options] PACKAGE_FILE ...
This installs a new package.
The general form of an rpm upgrade command is
rpm {-U|--upgrade} [install-options] PACKAGE_FILE ...
This upgrades or installs the package currently installed to a newer
version. This is the same as install, except all other version(s) of
the package are removed after the new package is installed.
rpm {-F|--freshen} [install-options] PACKAGE_FILE ...
This will upgrade packages, but only if an earlier version currently
exists. The PACKAGE_FILE may be specified as an ftp or http URL, in
which case the package will be downloaded before being installed. See
FTP/HTTP OPTIONS for information on rpm’s internal ftp and http client
support.
--aid Add suggested packages to the transaction set when needed.
--allfiles
Installs or upgrades all the missingok files in the package,
regardless if they exist.
--badreloc
Used with --relocate, permit relocations on all file paths, not
just those OLDPATH’s included in the binary package relocation
hint(s).
--excludepath OLDPATH
Don’t install files whose name begins with OLDPATH.
--excludedocs
Don’t install any files which are marked as documentation
(which includes man pages and texinfo documents).
--force
Same as using --replacepkgs, --replacefiles, and --oldpackage.
-h, --hash
Print 50 hash marks as the package archive is unpacked. Use
with -v|--verbose for a nicer display.
--ignoresize
Don’t check mount file systems for sufficient disk space before
installing this package.
--ignorearch
Allow installation or upgrading even if the architectures of
the binary package and host don’t match.
--ignoreos
Allow installation or upgrading even if the operating systems
of the binary package and host don’t match.
--includedocs
Install documentation files. This is the default behavior.
--justdb
Update only the database, not the filesystem.
--nodigest
Don’t verify package or header digests when reading.
--nosignature
Don’t verify package or header signatures when reading.
--nodeps
Don’t do a dependency check before installing or upgrading a
package.
--nosuggest
Don’t suggest package(s) that provide a missing dependency.
--noorder
Don’t reorder the packages for an install. The list of packages
would normally be reordered to satisfy dependencies.
--noscripts
--nopre
--nopost
--nopreun
--nopostun
Don’t execute the scriptlet of the same name. The --noscripts
option is equivalent to
--nopre --nopost --nopreun --nopostun
and turns off the execution of the corresponding %pre, %post,
%preun, and %postun scriptlet(s).
--notriggers
--notriggerin
--notriggerun
--notriggerpostun
Don’t execute any trigger scriptlet of the named type. The
--notriggers option is equivalent to
--notriggerin --notriggerun --notriggerpostun
and turns off execution of the corresponding %triggerin, %trig-
gerun, and %triggerpostun scriptlet(s).
--oldpackage
Allow an upgrade to replace a newer package with an older one.
--percent
Print percentages as files are unpacked from the package
archive. This is intended to make rpm easy to run from other
tools.
--prefix NEWPATH
For relocatable binary packages, translate all file paths that
start with the installation prefix in the package relocation
hint(s) to NEWPATH.
--relocate OLDPATH=NEWPATH
For relocatable binary packages, translate all file paths that
start with OLDPATH in the package relocation hint(s) to NEW-
PATH. This option can be used repeatedly if several OLDPATH’s
in the package are to be relocated.
--repackage
Re-package the files before erasing. The previously installed
package will be named according to the macro %_repack-
age_name_fmt and will be created in the directory named by the
macro %_repackage_dir (default value is /var/spool/repackage).
--replacefiles
Install the packages even if they replace files from other,
already installed, packages.
--replacepkgs
Install the packages even if some of them are already installed
on this system.
--test Do not install the package, simply check for and report poten-
tial conflicts.
ERASE OPTIONS
The general form of an rpm erase command is
rpm {-e|--erase} [--allmatches] [--nodeps] [--noscripts] [--notrig-
gers] [--repackage] [--test] PACKAGE_NAME ...
The following options may also be used:
--allmatches
Remove all versions of the package which match PACKAGE_NAME.
Normally an error is issued if PACKAGE_NAME matches multiple
packages.
--nodeps
Don’t check dependencies before uninstalling the packages.
--noscripts
--nopreun
--nopostun
Don’t execute the scriptlet of the same name. The --noscripts
option during package erase is equivalent to
--nopreun --nopostun
and turns off the execution of the corresponding %preun, and
%postun scriptlet(s).
--notriggers
--notriggerun
--notriggerpostun
Don’t execute any trigger scriptlet of the named type. The
--notriggers option is equivalent to
--notriggerun --notriggerpostun
and turns off execution of the corresponding %triggerun, and
%triggerpostun scriptlet(s).
--repackage
Re-package the files before erasing. The previously installed
package will be named according to the macro %_repack-
age_name_fmt and will be created in the directory named by the
macro %_repackage_dir (default value is /var/spool/repackage).
--test Don’t really uninstall anything, just go through the motions.
Useful in conjunction with the -vv option for debugging.
QUERY OPTIONS
The general form of an rpm query command is
rpm {-q|--query} [select-options] [query-options]
You may specify the format that package information should be printed
in. To do this, you use the
--qf|--queryformat QUERYFMT
option, followed by the QUERYFMT format string. Query formats are
modified versions of the standard printf(3) formatting. The format is
made up of static strings (which may include standard C character
escapes for newlines, tabs, and other special characters) and
printf(3) type formatters. As rpm already knows the type to print,
the type specifier must be omitted however, and replaced by the name
of the header tag to be printed, enclosed by {} characters. Tag names
are case insensitive, and the leading RPMTAG_ portion of the tag name
may be omitted as well.
Alternate output formats may be requested by following the tag with
:typetag. Currently, the following types are supported:
:armor Wrap a public key in ASCII armor.
:base64
Encode binary data using base64.
:date Use strftime(3) "%c" format.
:day Use strftime(3) "%a %b %d %Y" format.
:depflags
Format dependency flags.
:fflags
Format file flags.
:hex Format in hexadecimal.
:octal Format in octal.
:perms Format file permissions.
:shescape
Escape single quotes for use in a script.
:triggertype
Display trigger suffix.
For example, to print only the names of the packages queried, you
could use %{NAME} as the format string. To print the packages name
and distribution information in two columns, you could use
%-30{NAME}%{DISTRIBUTION}. rpm will print a list of all of the tags
it knows about when it is invoked with the --querytags argument.
There are two subsets of options for querying: package selection, and
information selection.
PACKAGE SELECTION OPTIONS:
PACKAGE_NAME
Query installed package named PACKAGE_NAME.
-a, --all
Query all installed packages.
-f, --file FILE
Query package owning FILE.
--fileid MD5
Query package that contains a given file identifier, i.e. the
MD5 digest of the file contents.
-g, --group GROUP
Query packages with the group of GROUP.
--hdrid SHA1
Query package that contains a given header identifier, i.e. the
SHA1 digest of the immutable header region.
-p, --package PACKAGE_FILE
Query an (uninstalled) package PACKAGE_FILE. The PACKAGE_FILE
may be specified as an ftp or http style URL, in which case the
package header will be downloaded and queried. See FTP/HTTP
OPTIONS for information on rpm’s internal ftp and http client
support. The PACKAGE_FILE argument(s), if not a binary package,
will be interpreted as an ASCII package manifest. Comments are
permitted, starting with a ’#’, and each line of a package man-
ifest file may include white space separated glob expressions,
including URL’s with remote glob expressions, that will be
expanded to paths that are substituted in place of the package
manifest as additional PACKAGE_FILE arguments to the query.
--pkgid MD5
Query package that contains a given package identifier, i.e.
the MD5 digest of the combined header and payload contents.
--querybynumber HDRNUM
Query the HDRNUMth database entry directly; this is useful only
for debugging.
--specfile SPECFILE
Parse and query SPECFILE as if it were a package. Although not
all the information (e.g. file lists) is available, this type
of query permits rpm to be used to extract information from
spec files without having to write a specfile parser.
--tid TID
Query package(s) that have a given TID transaction identifier.
A unix time stamp is currently used as a transaction identi-
fier. All package(s) installed or erased within a single trans-
action have a common identifier.
--triggeredby PACKAGE_NAME
Query packages that are triggered by package(s) PACKAGE_NAME.
--whatprovides CAPABILITY
Query all packages that provide the CAPABILITY capability.
--whatrequires CAPABILITY
Query all packages that requires CAPABILITY for proper func-
tioning.
PACKAGE QUERY OPTIONS:
--changelog
Display change information for the package.
-c, --configfiles
List only configuration files (implies -l).
-d, --docfiles
List only documentation files (implies -l).
--dump Dump file information as follows:
path size mtime md5sum mode owner group isconfig isdoc rdev symlink
This option must be used with at least one of -l, -c, -d.
--filesbypkg
List all the files in each selected package.
-i, --info
Display package information, including name, version, and
description. This uses the --queryformat if one was specified.
--last Orders the package listing by install time such that the latest
packages are at the top.
-l, --list
List files in package.
--conflicts
List packages which this package conflicts with.
--obsoletes
List packages which this package obsoletes. In most cases, the
obsoletes dependency is used when the name of a package
changes.
--provides
List capabilities this package provides.
-R, --requires
List packages on which this package depends.
--scripts
List the package specific scriptlet(s) that are used as part of
the installation and uninstallation processes.
-s, --state
Display the states of files in the package (implies -l). The
state of each file is one of normal, not installed, or
replaced.
--triggers, --triggerscripts
Display the trigger scripts, if any, which are contained in the
package.
VERIFY OPTIONS
The general form of an rpm verify command is
rpm {-V|--verify} [select-options] [verify-options]
Verifying a package compares information about the installed files in
the package with information about the files taken from the package
metadata stored in the rpm database. Among other things, verifying
compares the size, MD5 sum, permissions, type, owner and group of each
file. Any discrepancies are displayed. Files that were not installed
from the package, for example, documentation files excluded on instal-
lation using the "--excludedocs" option, will be silently ignored.
The package selection options are the same as for package querying
(including package manifest files as arguments). Other options unique
to verify mode are:
--nodeps
Don’t verify dependencies of packages.
--nodigest
Don’t verify package or header digests when reading.
--nofiles
Don’t verify any attributes of package files.
--noscripts
Don’t execute the %verifyscript scriptlet (if any).
--nosignature
Don’t verify package or header signatures when reading.
--nolinkto
--nomd5
--nosize
--nouser
--nogroup
--nomtime
--nomode
--nordev
Don’t verify the corresponding file attribute.
The format of the output is a string of 9 characters, a possible
attribute marker:
c %config configuration file.
d %doc documentation file.
g %ghost file (i.e. the file contents are not included in the package payload).
l %license license file.
r %readme readme file.
from the package header, followed by the file name. Each of the 8
characters denotes the result of a comparison of attribute(s) of the
file to the value of those attribute(s) recorded in the database. A
single "." (period) means the test passed, while a single "?" (ques-
tion mark) indicates the test could not be performed (e.g. file per-
missions prevent reading). Otherwise, the (mnemonically emBoldened)
character denotes failure of the corresponding --verify test:
S file Size differs
M Mode differs (includes permissions and file type)
5 MD5 sum differs
D Device major/minor number mismatch
L readLink(2) path mismatch
U User ownership differs
G Group ownership differs
T mTime differs
C selinux Context differs
DIGITAL SIGNATURE AND DIGEST VERIFICATION
The general forms of rpm digital signature commands are
rpm --import PUBKEY ...
rpm {--checksig} [--nosignature] [--nodigest]
PACKAGE_FILE ...
The --checksig option checks all the digests and signatures contained
in PACKAGE_FILE to ensure the integrity and origin of the package.
Note that signatures are now verified whenever a package is read, and
--checksig is useful to verify all of the digests and signatures asso-
ciated with a package.
Digital signatures cannot be verified without a public key. An ASCII
armored public key can be added to the rpm database using --import. An
imported public key is carried in a header, and key ring management is
performed exactly like package management. For example, all currently
imported public keys can be displayed by:
rpm -qa gpg-pubkey*
Details about a specific public key, when imported, can be displayed
by querying. Here’s information about the Red Hat GPG/DSA key:
rpm -qi gpg-pubkey-db42a60e
Finally, public keys can be erased after importing just like packages.
Here’s how to remove the Red Hat GPG/DSA key
rpm -e gpg-pubkey-db42a60e
SIGNING A PACKAGE
rpm --addsign|--resign PACKAGE_FILE ...
Both of the --addsign and --resign options generate and insert new
signatures for each package PACKAGE_FILE given, replacing any existing
signatures. There are two options for historical reasons, there is no
difference in behavior currently.
USING GPG TO SIGN PACKAGES
In order to sign packages using GPG, rpm must be configured to run GPG
and be able to find a key ring with the appropriate keys. By default,
rpm uses the same conventions as GPG to find key rings, namely the
$GNUPGHOME environment variable. If your key rings are not located
where GPG expects them to be, you will need to configure the macro
%_gpg_path to be the location of the GPG key rings to use.
For compatibility with older versions of GPG, PGP, and rpm, only V3
OpenPGP signature packets should be configured. Either DSA or RSA
verification algorithms can be used, but DSA is preferred.
If you want to be able to sign packages you create yourself, you also
need to create your own public and secret key pair (see the GPG man-
ual). You will also need to configure the rpm macros
%_signature
The signature type. Right now only gpg and pgp are supported.
%_gpg_name
The name of the "user" whose key you wish to use to sign your
packages.
For example, to be able to use GPG to sign packages as the user "John
Doe <jdoe@foo.com>" from the key rings located in /etc/rpm/.gpg using
the executable /usr/bin/gpg you would include
%_signature gpg
%_gpg_path /etc/rpm/.gpg
%_gpg_name John Doe <jdoe@foo.com>
%_gpgbin /usr/bin/gpg
in a macro configuration file. Use /etc/rpm/macros for per-system con-
figuration and ~/.rpmmacros for per-user configuration.
REBUILD DATABASE OPTIONS
The general form of an rpm rebuild database command is
rpm {--initdb|--rebuilddb} [-v] [--dbpath DIRECTORY] [--root DIREC-
TORY]
Use --initdb to create a new database, use --rebuilddb to rebuild the
database indices from the installed package headers.
SHOWRC
The command
rpm --showrc
shows the values rpm will use for all of the options are currently set
in rpmrc and macros configuration file(s).
FTP/HTTP OPTIONS
rpm can act as an FTP and/or HTTP client so that packages can be
queried or installed from the internet. Package files for install,
upgrade, and query operations may be specified as an ftp or http style
URL:
ftp://USER:PASSWORD@HOST:PORT/path/to/package.rpm
If the :PASSWORD portion is omitted, the password will be prompted for
(once per user/hostname pair). If both the user and password are omit-
ted, anonymous ftp is used. In all cases, passive (PASV) ftp trans-
fers are performed.
rpm allows the following options to be used with ftp URLs:
--ftpproxy HOST
The host HOST will be used as a proxy server for all ftp trans-
fers, which allows users to ftp through firewall machines which
use proxy systems. This option may also be specified by config-
uring the macro %_ftpproxy.
--ftpport PORT
The TCP PORT number to use for the ftp connection on the proxy
ftp server instead of the default port. This option may also be
specified by configuring the macro %_ftpport.
rpm allows the following options to be used with http URLs:
--httpproxy HOST
The host HOST will be used as a proxy server for all http
transfers. This option may also be specified by configuring the
macro %_httpproxy.
--httpport PORT
The TCP PORT number to use for the http connection on the proxy
http server instead of the default port. This option may also
be specified by configuring the macro %_httpport.
LEGACY ISSUES
Executing rpmbuild
The build modes of rpm are now resident in the /usr/bin/rpmbuild exe-
cutable. Although legacy compatibility provided by the popt aliases
below has been adequate, the compatibility is not perfect; hence build
mode compatibility through popt aliases is being removed from rpm.
Install the rpmbuild package, and see rpmbuild(8) for documentation of
all the rpm build modes previously documented here in rpm(8).
Add the following lines to /etc/popt if you wish to continue invoking
rpmbuild from the rpm command line:
rpm exec --bp rpmb -bp
rpm exec --bc rpmb -bc
rpm exec --bi rpmb -bi
rpm exec --bl rpmb -bl
rpm exec --ba rpmb -ba
rpm exec --bb rpmb -bb
rpm exec --bs rpmb -bs
rpm exec --tp rpmb -tp
rpm exec --tc rpmb -tc
rpm exec --ti rpmb -ti
rpm exec --tl rpmb -tl
rpm exec --ta rpmb -ta
rpm exec --tb rpmb -tb
rpm exec --ts rpmb -ts
rpm exec --rebuild rpmb --rebuild
rpm exec --recompile rpmb --recompile
rpm exec --clean rpmb --clean
rpm exec --rmsource rpmb --rmsource
rpm exec --rmspec rpmb --rmspec
rpm exec --target rpmb --target
rpm exec --short-circuit rpmb --short-circuit
FILES
rpmrc Configuration
/usr/lib/rpm/rpmrc
/usr/lib/rpm/redhat/rpmrc
/etc/rpmrc
~/.rpmrc
Macro Configuration
/usr/lib/rpm/macros
/usr/lib/rpm/redhat/macros
/etc/rpm/macros
~/.rpmmacros
Database
/var/lib/rpm/Basenames
/var/lib/rpm/Conflictname
/var/lib/rpm/Dirnames
/var/lib/rpm/Filemd5s
/var/lib/rpm/Group
/var/lib/rpm/Installtid
/var/lib/rpm/Name
/var/lib/rpm/Packages
/var/lib/rpm/Providename
/var/lib/rpm/Provideversion
/var/lib/rpm/Pubkeys
/var/lib/rpm/Removed
/var/lib/rpm/Requirename
/var/lib/rpm/Requireversion
/var/lib/rpm/Sha1header
/var/lib/rpm/Sigmd5
/var/lib/rpm/Triggername
Temporary
/var/tmp/rpm*
SEE ALSO
popt(3),
rpm2cpio(8),
rpmbuild(8),
http://www.rpm.org/ <URL:http://www.rpm.org/>
AUTHORS
Marc Ewing <marc@redhat.com>
Jeff Johnson <jbj@redhat.com>
Erik Troan <ewt@redhat.com>
Red Hat, Inc. 09 June 2002 RPM(8)
